Instant Pot Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta combines tender shrimp and pasta with a creamy, spicy bang bang sauce. This easy pressure cooker dinner has just the right balance of sweet and spicy flavors.
I love a good shrimp pasta, especially when it has a little kick! The creamy bang bang sauce gives this dish so much flavor, and making it in the Instant Pot keeps dinner simple.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Creamy and Spicy: The bang bang sauce adds a delicious mix of sweet and spicy flavors.
- Easy Instant Pot Dinner: Pasta and shrimp make a satisfying meal with less fuss.
- Packed with Flavor: Tender shrimp and creamy sauce make every bite delicious.
About the Ingredients ⭐
- Spaghetti: Cooks right in the Instant Pot for an easy dinner.
- Shrimp: Adds tender, juicy seafood to the pasta.
- Garlic: Gives both the pasta and sauce plenty of flavor.
- Paprika: Adds a mild, smoky flavor.
- Olive Oil: Used to sauté the garlic and seasonings.
- Water: Cooks the pasta in the Instant Pot.
- Lime Juice: Adds a fresh, tangy flavor.
- Mayonnaise: Creates the creamy base for the bang bang sauce.
- Thai Sweet Chili Sauce: Adds sweetness with a little heat.
- Sriracha: Gives the sauce its spicy kick.
- Red Pepper Flakes: Add extra heat.
- Onion Powder: Adds a savory flavor to the sauce.
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below
How to Make Instant Pot Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta 🍤
Sauté the Garlic: Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add the olive oil, minced garlic, and paprika. Cook for about 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the Pasta: Break the spaghetti in half and place it in the Instant Pot. Pour in 3 cups of water.
Prepare the Shrimp: Place the shrimp on a piece of foil. Sprinkle with additional paprika and drizzle with lime juice. Wrap the shrimp in the foil and place on top of the pasta.
Pressure Cook: Secure the lid and cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes. Perform a Quick Release when finished.
Make the Bang Bang Sauce: While the pasta cooks, mix the mayonnaise, Thai sweet chili sauce, sriracha, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and onion powder in a bowl.
Combine Everything: Carefully open the lid and add the bang bang sauce. Toss the shrimp and pasta until evenly coated. Make sure the shrimp are fully cooked before serving.
Tips I Found Helpful 🩵
- Break the spaghetti in half and spread it out to help prevent sticking.
- Use peeled and deveined shrimp to save prep time.
- Adjust the sriracha to make the bang bang sauce milder or spicier.
- Check that the shrimp are fully cooked before mixing them with the pasta. They should be opaque and reach 145°F.
Questions Readers Ask Most
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Instant Pot Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta
Instant Pot Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta combines tender shrimp and spaghetti with a creamy, sweet, and spicy sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups water
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
For the Bang Bang Sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup Thai sweet chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add olive oil, garlic, and paprika. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Break the spaghetti in half and place it in the Instant Pot. Pour in 3 cups of water.
- Place the shrimp on a piece of foil. Sprinkle with additional paprika and drizzle with lime juice. Wrap the shrimp in the foil and place on top of the pasta.
- Secure the lid and cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes. Perform a Quick Release when finished.
- Meanwhile, combine all the bang bang sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Carefully open the lid. Check that the shrimp are fully cooked and reach 145°F.
- Add the sauce and toss everything together until the shrimp and pasta are evenly coated. Serve warm.
Notes
Adjust the sriracha to your preferred spice level. For the best texture, avoid overcooking the shrimp.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 447Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 4gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 169mgSodium: 958mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 4gSugar: 14gProtein: 22g
Can this be made with frozen shrimp?
absolutely
Can I make this with chicken? Like cut up chicken breast? Do you think still cooking it on the foil would be necessary? Any time adjustments for chicken?
yes you can use chicken or shrimp 🙂
Made this tonight, in the pot now. Used chicken instead of shrimp because that’s what I had in the fridge. Sautéed them with the garlic to brown. We shall see how it turns out! Thanks for the recipe.
In the Bang Bang shrimp, you don’t cook the sauce at all? Thx for the recipes. I’m new to Instant pot.
Just finished making this per the recipe. For one pound of pasta, it was not completely cooked. No direction was given on the water that the shrimp
puts out while cooking, so I drained it. Thinking I probably shouldn’t have because the dish is pretty dry. I was hoping the color of mine would have been close to your’s, but no….. mine’s pretty orange. Great effort in providing the recipe, but probably won’t do this one again! If my comment shows a 5 star rating, it’s because the option to rate automatically selects 5 stars and will not let you change it. I’d rate 1.5 or 2.
hummm not sure what happened.
I do, its a conspiracy
I really want to make this! Looks delicious. Do you put the foil directly on the noodles? It looks like you have a strainer in the pot. What is that and when do you put it in?
Made this, SO good. I used a little less than a pound of pasta. I did not drain the pasta and it was perfection. Thank you!!
We enjoyed this, but my pasta had some really big clumps. And do you get rid of the liquid from the shrimp, or stir it in?
My noodles were undercooked as well. I liked the flavor and feel like I can tweak this for next time. Thank you!
Flavor was SPOT ON! I omited the red pepper flakes and my kids loved it! I will be doing 1/2 lb pasta (I use an authentic pasta, not a boxed, so not sure if that was denser) and a smidge more liquid, but fantastic recipe!! THANK YOU!
I found the suggested cooking time was not long enough to cook a lb of pasta. Once I re-covered the pot to cook it a little longer, I lost most of the steam, and even after cooing it 2 mins longer, the pasta was still tough. But the flavor was good. I will try this again, making some adjustments….
This was my 2nd IP dish and I must say it is delicious! Here’s what I changed to make this for 2 adults…1/2 lb linguini but same amt of water. Next time I will reduce water by 1 cup. Increased cooking time to 6 mins and pasta is perfect with shrimp not over cooked. Minimal trouble with linguini sticking together. I reduced Sriracha to 1 tsp and I’m glad I did! Yum. Will definitely make this again.
The more I think about it, I won’t reduce the water with 1/2 lb pasta – it made a lot of sauce that I put left-over beef and that was delicious. The reduction in spices is a must for me…I might even go down to 1/2 Tsp of Sriracha but keep the other spices (and no pepper flakes). This recipe is a keeper and will go into my regular rotation.
Don’t worry about the pasta sticking together because it’s an easy fix: stir it with a wooden spoon for 30 to 60 seconds and they will separate nicely.
Made it tonight! Came out great…noodles cooked perfectly and I even had a mix of linguine, spaghetti and fettuccine (so I added 1 minute to cook time). Sauce was great. So, so easy and yummy! My 1.5 year old loved it!! (I halved the Sriacha) And the hubby as well. Will make again! Thanks for the recipe!!
Tasty, easy n appetizing dish. Highly recommended.
A few questions. Do you use thin or reg. Spaghetti noodles. Do you use raw or cooked shrimp.
Would you clarify some of the units for me?
I got the tsp = teaspoon and tbsp = table spoon, but which one is the Tsp?
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbs lime juice
2 tbs sriracha
1/4 Tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 Tsp onion powder
I made this tonight and guessed on the measurements and dropped them down a bit out of concern for it being too spicy for my girls, but I would love to know the intended measurements so I can try it that way and then adjust if / as needed. Also, I tried it with frozen shrimp and the 5 minutes is no where near long enough so I am guessing the recipe is for thawed shrimp and needs to be adjusted appropriately for frozen.
Really, really good. Spicy, creamy, shrimpy goodness. Thanks for the keeper recipe.
Fantastic! Tried this tonight and it was incredible. I love it spicy and this was perfect. Been using the IP for over 4 months now and this recipe is my new favorite.
Just finished making and eating this for the first time! Oh my, it was wonderful! I was out of Siracha, so I used some “Green Dragon Hot Sauce” from Trader Joe’s. I also used whole wheat thin spaghetti and increased the cook time 2 minutes. It was perfection! Thanks for the recipe!
Used angel hair pasta and noodle was okay but shrimp didn’t cook through all the way. I had to finish on skillet. To be fair I did use large shrimp so I think I will increase cook time by a couple of minutes. Flavor was good and easy to make! Thanks!
Hi! Bang Bang pasta with shrimp sounds wonderful! Would it be possible to substitute something else for the mayo? Would heavy cream or sour cream work?
I made this recipe today with a few adjustments, based on the comments. I also had frozen cooked shrimp. I adjusted my time to 6 minutes. I tried to make sure I spread out the pasta and separated it as much as I could. I also did not put the shrimp in. After cooking, about 3/4 of the pasta turned out great. Some I was able to separate, but the rest, was not done and stuck together. Looking back, I should have made sure all the pasta was under water and stirred and separated more. I dumped the pasta in a bowl, no need to drain, then put my thawed shrimp in with the lime juice, turned on sauté for a a couple of minutes, just to warm up the shrimp, then dumped everything together and served. Family loved it. I also used a 1/2 teaspoon of siracha and it was plenty hot for me. Super easy and quick. Thanks for the recipe and the comments.
making this for dinner tonight?
Made this tonight exactly as directed in the recipe. Pasta clumped together in a few spots (I used standard spaghetti). The sauce was pretty good and the shrimp were cooked, but not overcooked. If you are cooking for someone who doesn’t like spicy food, you will need to modify this recipe. I can handle some pretty hot Thai and Indian food, but his was probably a 2.5-3 on a 1-to-5 spicy scale.
What kind of shrimp do you use? Or how do you buy it?
Please tell me the nutrition statement is for the entire pot and not just one serving. I would love to try this but the amount of fat, cholesterol, sodium and carbs, makes it pretty much impossible for the folks in this household.
Made this tonight; liked it (not the biggest bang bang sauce fan, but it was worth a try). Followed recipe exactly, timing worked for me. Would only mention that it may help to give the spaghetti noodles a quick stir after adding water and before pressure cooking; I had some noodles that clumped together so I had to add ~ 3/4 cup water afterwards to break them up. Nice flavor, if I make again I’ll probably add more red pepper flakes.
This really didn’t work for us. The garlic & paprika burned to the bottom while cooking the pasta. The pasta was a bit under done. We didn’t care for the sauce. Maybe a bit too much sweet chili sauce. I did use canola mayo instead of regular mayo. I also used canned chicken from costco instead of shrimp. Will try again, but less chili sauce, more water & a little longer cook time.
WOW! Was this ever spicy! But we loved it! Maybe next time I add only 1T. of Siracha.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi…sounds great! I am very new to pressure cooking but I am wondering if parchment paper or something more safe can be used in place of foil?? I feel especially uncomfortable pressure cooking aluminum into my food…thank you
What is your favorite shrimp?
i made this last night and had no problems with the spaghetti, made sure that the pasta was all covered by water before cooking, and i put the pasta in like a birds nest, not side by side. no problems with it sticking or cooking together. i also omitted a bit of the siracha because my son isnt a fan of hot. you could still feel a bit of heat but not to much. it was very good. i also used 1 1/2 lbs of shrimp and cooked it on high pressure for 6 min. it could have probably cooked for 7. but still a good one.
Raw or cooked shrimp? Fresh or frozen??
I used frozen
Do the time and amount of fluid need to be adjusted for 5,500 feet altitude? This was perfect at sea level, but what changes are necessary at high altitude?
Made this tonight, soooooo good, I love it, my family thought it was too spicy, perfect for me, next time I guess I’ll cut back a little, sigh… followed recipe as is and had no problems with undercooked pasta or being too dry… I did add the liquid from the shrimp as others were asking if it should be added or drained, I was contemplating draining it, however my tin foil was too weak and added it by default… perfection!!!
Is it me or are most of the recipes that deal with pressure cooking confusing on the times. Especially when the chef says it only takes eight minutes to make? Four prep and then four cook. Except it takes two to three for the sauté to start sizzling. Nothing is instaneous. Then when I am ready to pressure cook and put the lid on, and go to pressure cook you have to cancel and click on pressure cool. Then it’s ten or so minutes for pressure to be fully engaged. Then. The four minute timer starts.
So. With the above modifications. Did 1/2 lb of pasta. Two cups of water. Added water before noodles, and scraped the sautéed bits of garlic off the bottom and then moved the submerged noodles around. So completely wet and oiled so hopefully they don’t stick.
I used one pound of larger 41-50 shrimp. Frozen. Dumped in with frost on them.
Ok. Sauce made as described. Timer went off. Quick release. Shrimp was partially cooked. Which made me happy. I was worried of over cooking them. Dumped them into the sauce. Stores the noodles. Some stickage to each and the bottom. But not bad. Some water left. But not too bad. Noodles were al Dante. Good. Stirred in sauce. All good! Hot bubbling sauce finished cooking the shrimp.
Only one issue which was my bad. I forgot to peel the shrimp since I just dumped them in front the bag and didn’t notice! Oh well. Still very good.
I agree with increasing the cooking time by a minute or two. The noodles were a little too “al dente,” and the shrimp were bordering on undercooked. I added water and sauteed on the stove for a few minutes after pressure cooking.
I can’t eat pasta. How can I do this without it?
Why bother with the aluminum foil? Wouldn’t it turn out the same if you just put the shrimp on top of the pasta?
Can I use lemon juice instead of lime juice? Or will it ruin the taste?
Made this for my husband and I for dinner tonight, I’m a huge shrimp lover and he is a spicy lover. This dish pleased the both of us equally!!! I mistakenly put 2 Tbsp of siracha instead of 2 Tsp, but it worked perfectly because it wasn’t too spicy for me and it was just right for my husband! Definitely one that will be kept in heavy rotation!
I made this tonight and got a burn error. Anyone know what I did wrong? Very new to the IP
Just tried this last night. Never even eaten it before. But was fast, easy, and DELICIOUS!
This was delicious! Made according to recipe including the cook time except I realized I was out of sriracha so I used Franks Red Hot Sauce and this turned out nice. I will be making this again and trying it with other protein (chicken or andouille sausage etc). Thank you for a simple and quick wonderful dish!
Great recipe but I would put the shrimp in the water and pasta to cook more thoroughly. It also needs lots of salt!